The Knicks made it to the second round of the playoffs, only to be bounced from the postseason by a very tough Pacers team in a six-game series.
Tyson Chandler was wholeheartedly outplayed by Indiana’s Roy Hibbert, due in part to injury and illness which limited his ability to perform at that late stage of the season. Chandler averaged six points and six rebounds in the series against the Pacers -- hardly enough to offset Hibbert’s impact, or to hep his team advance.
Chandler is making no excuses, but was disappointed by his postseason effort. He’s using it as motivation to get better for the upcoming season.
From Marc Berman of the New York Post:“I vowed to myself I would never let that happen again,” Chandler said Friday. “I would never let my team down and be in that situation again.”
In Chandler’s defense, he was coming off a neck injury and strep throat that caused him to lose 12 pounds.
“I’ve got to make sure that doesn’t happen,” Chandler added, referring to his second-round performance. “It’s not about him. It’s about me. My job is to stop whoever is in front of me and outplay them, no matter who it is. I’ve got to look at it like motivation, like I got my ass kicked. So next time I’m not going to let that happen.’’If Chandler was playing at 100 percent and was dominated by Hibbert, this might be somewhat understandable. But fighting through injury to battle one of the best centers in the game is nothing to be ashamed of, and Chandler, when healthy, has more than enough defensively to deal with the likes of Hibbert in a long playoff series.